No. 62G] 



ADAPTATION 



217 



causally determined steps become the means to its reali- 

 zation. The difference between such a physical process 

 and a vital one, as conceived by Driesch, is that in the 

 latter a given sequence of events maij or may not come to 

 pass, depending on the whim of "entelochy." The issue 

 here, then, is practically the same as that first raised, 

 namely, that of determinism versus indeterminism. 



o. Scientific biology declares that vital phenomena are 

 clieniico-physical, in the sense that they are the inevi- 

 tal)lo outcome of the particular material aggregations 

 which we term organisms.^ It grants that in these 

 manifold chemical syntheses entirely new properties 

 have emerged, though insisting that the same may l)e 

 said of any union of elements whatever. Mtalism de- 

 nies that any possible configuration of material parti- 

 cles, without the aid of an immaterial principle, can 

 account for the phenomena observed. It is for this rea- 

 son that ''vitalism" is commonly set in opposition to 

 ''mechanism." Driesch 's three "proofs" of vitalism 

 are concerned with this last aspect of the theory. We 

 have seen that all three are based on the assuni])ti()n that 

 we must find a diversity in the cause, corresponding to 

 «'ach diversity in ilw viYvct. And it has been pointed out 

 that tliis docs not hohl Wur even of a(hiiittedly physico- 

 chemical systems. 



Xow, I do not cLaini that the hare word ••mechanism," 

 however hallowed hy seieiititie usage, has any greater 

 explanatory value than -'enteleehy." Indeed, 1 do not 

 see why we should he called on to t*arnisli a uirrJinHiral 

 ^'xplanation, smsu sfylrfn, of hiolo-ical plienoiuena at all. 

 Xot all natural >rienee i> meeliani<-s: some of it rhem- 

 istry. And I believe it is e.|ually true that still another 

 pan is biolo-y. a seienci' <iiiite di>tinct from either. lUil 

 I think we can claim the ]»o^>il)ility of a >cienti(ic exi'lana- 

 tion in the >en>e Indicated by ti'ie f.-re-oing antitheses, 

 and it is with this in mind that I have gra])i.led with the 

 problem of uruani<-"iMirposefnlne^^." 



13 It is not. however, ne. es>anly ' .nateriali.tic ' ' in a metaphysioal sense. 



